SUPERIOR — Superior Public Schools hope to remove hunger and cold as a barrier to learning.
Using a variety of sources — discounted purchases from the Montana Food Bank Network, a backpack meals program, $10,000 from Town Pump, short-term grants, one-time donations from locals and a heck of a lot of grit — school leaders have spent the past decade stitching together services for students in need.
Because of those efforts, students "are worrying about their math, not their bellies,” said administrative assistant Dawn Bauer, who organizes the school's new food pantry and other programs housed in the former office space.
Dozens of kids come each day to pick up snacks or the materials to make meals at home. The pantry's walls are lined with stacks of cans and bags of nonperishable goods, which Bauer divides into portion-sized Ziploc bags for the kids. One shelf includes small drawers filled with spice blends Bauer mixed for spaghetti sauces, tacos and other meals.
For a second year, the school will operate a Crockpot Club, giving a cooker to students who need one and providing some basic cooking lessons. The students then will be sent home with ingredients and recipes to cook for themselves or their families over the weekend. Over the summer, the school taught many area kids how to dry herbs and preserve foods.
About two-thirds of Superior students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches, compared to 45 percent statewide. Many arrive at school hungry, sometimes after eating not enough at home over the weekend, Bauer said. Mineral County has one of the state’s highest unemployment rates, 6 percent, and the median household income of $36,031 is 24 percent lower than the statewide figure, according to federal and state statistics.
About a decade ago, Superintendent Scott Kinney, then principal, started a clothes closet where students in need could pick up coats, shoes, boots, gloves, hats, underwear and other items. Soon, he set up a program for laundry services.
“Kids in this community had challenges with something as simple as clothing,” he said.
Bauer has given coats to several kids already this year. They tell her, “Well, my mom said she’d buy me one next payday.” She responds, “It’s cold now. Let’s go get you one.”
From there, the school started a backpack meals program, then the Crockpot Club and now, thanks to a grant, have the full-fledged pantry. Another grant supported the creation of an outdoor classroom, where students learn math and science while growing foods that ultimately can be used in the lunch room or in after-school life skills programs.
Bauer looks for every opportunity she can to stock the pantry as cheaply as possible. Recently, she called incident commanders at two nearby fires to ask if they had any food left over as their camps wound down. They did, and so for the first few weeks of school students were able to take home extra snacks.
“We take care of our own here,” Bauer said. “I graduated here, (the superintendent) graduated here, our principal did, a lot of our teachers did. We’re raising our kids here. It’s personal for us, you know? When they’re here, they’re our babies.”
Kinney agreed.
“Social service agencies when I was growing up were a lot stronger. Those don’t really exist in rural Montana anymore,” he said, proud that his staff and students are learning self-sufficiency and the value of a community that looks out for each other. “We ask, ‘How do we get this done?’ instead of bemoaning the state of education in Montana.”
The efforts have caught the attention of community organizations as well as nearby schools who hope to replicate some of Superior's programs.
On Friday, Superior students walked across the playground and a street to Mineral Community Hospital to pick up 729 pounds of food. They loaded pasta, tuna fish and peanut butter into a truck that was driven back to school where students carried it all into the pantry.
For the month of October, hospital employees will collect food for the school. Its first donation was accrued in just six days.
CEO Ronald Gleeson saw it as a natural extension of previous efforts to collect coats, hygiene products and school supplies for students.
“We’re a part of this community and we need to support it,” he said.
